The Mexican Land Grants.

Soon after Mexico became politically independent in 1822, a series of colonization laws were passed authorizing the Governor of California to make grants of land to leaders of colonies and to private individuals. No one person was to obtain more than one square league (4,438 acres) of irrigable land, four square leagues of ordinary agricultural land, and six square leagues of grazing land. Thus, a limit of eleven square leagues was placed on the land that could be granted to any one individual. Under these provisions, most of the land area which was of any value for agricultural purposes in Monterey County was parceled out to private settlers between 1822 and 1846, mostly to retired military personnel in good standing with Church and state or to Mexican citizens, as petitioned, subject to their actual settlement and use. It is in the manner that Rafael Gomez, a Mexican lawyer and the first individual in the Rana Creek chain of title received the Rancho Los Tularcitos from Governor Figueroa on December 18, 1834. The grant of the Los Tularcitos included the vineyard of the Mission, and contained six leagues of land, which may indicate that the land was primarily useful for grazing purposes.